December Wrap-up

We had our annual Branch Christmas party and it was a good thing that Santa came because we didn't go see him any other time this year. My girls LOVE Santa, which is kind of strange. Most kids their ages won't sit on Santa's lap, but I can't think of a time that my girls wouldn't. I was really surprised that even Janie sat there. She had a strange look on her face, but she never cried. I just love this picture because she is looking at him like "I just don't know how I feel about you."

Nellie was excited to sit with Santa and tell him she wanted a Diego toy. Everyone is shocked I know.

Lizzy told Santa that she wanted a snowflake ring, which I am glad that Santa found because finding a snowflake ring sounded like a hard thing to me.

We dressed up some of the Primary kids who wanted to, as the Nativity. It was very makeshift, but that was okay the kids looked cute. Lizzy of course wanted to be an angel, because angels got to wear sparkly stuff.

Nellie was a trusty shepherd. She doesn't care about sparkly stuff, she cared more that the towel she wore was green. I brought Janie's lamb costume for her to wear and I would have to say she was the cutest little lamb ever. She still has that funny face like she isn't thrilled, but she didn't cry.

The girls had a little Christmas program at their preschool. The lighting was really bad, so it was hard to get good pictures. Lizzy was really into all the songs and actions as usual. She is such a performer. It will really be interesting to see how she is when she is older.

I was proud of Nellie, for her age group she did really well. I am just so used to Lizzy and how Lizzy has always been, so I have to make sure I never compare them with things like this. Nellie was funny because her little class sang jingle bells and her teacher handed out red and green jingle bells to all the kids. The kids were asking for certain colors and the teacher kept saying "It doesn't matter which color you get." But I was really hoping that Nellie would get a green because we all know with Nellie that it does matter. Good thing she did get a green.

That day the girls got to open their presents from Grammie and Papi, and they were just thrilled with the outfits and scarfs, gloves and hats they got. Thanks Grammie and Papi!

Christmas Eve the girls got to wear the new pajamas that I made them. I was thrilled with the pattern that I found. I was able to get each set of jammies done in about an hour and a half, it rocked. I think I am going to make that pattern again next year.

I just had to throw this picture in because the girls were being so silly. Nellie put a bow on like a bow tie, and Lizzy put on a long bridesmaid dress, and they pretended like they were getting married. Nellie got down on one knee and slipped the ring on Lizzy's finger and then they kissed and said, we are married, and danced around. It was really funny. I sure get a kick out of them. It is funny too how Nellie is always the boy and she doesn't care. She is such a tomboy.

For Christmas we had some special guests. Jarom and Kristen and their baby Jerry drove here from Kentucky and stayed with us for Christmas. It was so much fun to have them around. They were such great guests and helped out so much and were so easy to have around we didn't want them to leave. It was also great to really get to spend time with Kristen and get to know her better. We moved to Kansas soon after they were married and I haven't spent much time with her, so it has been so fun to really get to know her. I wish we lived closer.

Here are the girls with baby Jerry. They just loved having him around, especially Lizzy, she loves babies. You can't really tell but Janie is almost a year here and Jerry is four months, they are about the same size, Janie is just really tiny.

They boys hanging out. Kevin gets along so well with all my brothers, I love it.

Nellie opening her presents Christmas morning. We had a great Christmas. The girls got a bunch of good stuff, but w spent a lot less then we usually do, it was great.

We got the girls stuff they could actually use. We got them a couple of board games, because they love to play them. We got them some craft stuff and other things they could create.

We got the girlies play laptops that have ABC's and number games. They love to play on them, plus they are learning a lot with them.

The girlies coloring Nellie's stuff she got from Grandma and Grandpa. She got this cool my little pony set with pages to color and markers and crayons. My girls LOVE to color. Lizzy got a jewelry box that she can decorate with special stickers from Grandma and Grandpa. It was a perfect gift because Lizzy loves to decorate, and she is really into jewelry. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

The girls got the really cute headbands and bows from Aunt Kristen. She made them for them, and they loves them. She taught me how to make them too, but I don't know if I can make them as good as she can. Thanks Kristen!

We had a great Christmas, it was just really sad to see it end, I always hate when Christmas is over and the new year starts, with January, and all the endless freezing days. Spring cannot come soon enough for me.